Spectrum Hawaii; Pacific Friendship Conference, Arts. Making a Living and Tribute Carl Wolz.

The following program is a production of KHET in Honolulu, Hawaii Public Television. The following program was funded in part by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. [sound of waves crashing] [Announcer] Today on Spectrum a distinguished dancer is honored, popular art is prepared for a mass society and these Pacific

Islands offer a pledge of friendship. Commercial art thrives in Hawaii under the practiced hands of seriographers and airbrush artists. Their many talents adorn hotel rooms, the face of T-shirts, and the sentiment of notecards. Honored choreographer and dancer Carl Wolz is paid tribute as he leaves his directorship of the University of Hawaii Dance Program. But first Spectrum attends the Second Annual Pacific Friendship Fiber Arts Conference held in Honolulu. Conference organizers Elizabeth Akana and Elaine Zinn take us on a tour of workshops and demonstrations beginning with an opening night show of Japanese and American quilting. [Elizabeth Akana] The Japanese are unique in that they went from wearable art, their quilting techniques were used on kimonos and ceremonial garments, and they went to quilts now. Now they're being transferred

into the quilts, where the American quilts and Hawaiian quilts have gone the reverse again. You know, they have taken it from the quilt to the wearable art. So it's a beautiful connection there and then culturally pulling together the islands of the Pacific and then sharing all of these wonderful techniques with everyone around the world. That's kind of where the whole thing is coming from. It was a wonderful way to open and to start things off. [Elaine Zinn] The fiber arts is really an all encompassing term that covers anything dealing with fabric and the needle and yarn. It can be weaving, embroidery, quilting, painting on fabric, but it's just a wide range of things actually that it does encompass. Anything that you can do to fabric and fiber. Some of the classes that we had deal with, I would say typical classes that you might find at a quilting conference on the mainland like Virginia Avery's Quilts to Wear class, she's tought it around

the country, it's been a very popular class. [Virginia Avery] As you know, we've called the class Turko-Tibetan, which means you want to make a Tibetan-style quilt or you want to make a Turkey-style quilt, really ethnic garments. But I think they bring out a creative expression in everybody that they might not have the nerve to do at home alone. And they kind of bolster each other up and I think they're all using fabrics and techniques in a new way. But all of these things of course, as everything we do is really based on traditional ways. [Zinn] Some of the newer classes perhaps they haven't been taught as much as passementerie which is a French word for trimming which deals with beading and ribbon manipulation, embellishing of fabrics, and old techniques, but it's used contemporary here in a class taught by Margot Carter Blair. [Blair] I think it might be kind of nice to put these at an angle like this, possibly

put your pieces in here. I think we might try some of the tassels to bring down, maybe not these colors but you might find something else that you might like, okay? You need to bring visually something down to the bottom of this vest. This is one that's almost complete at the back. [Zinn] That's terriffic, and look at these marvellous materials, Margot are these all yours, did you bring these? [Blair] No, I have a real love for old fabric, these are from India. [Zinn] This is what inspired you to do body banners? [Blair] That's right. [Zinn] These are just marvellous. [Blair] So often it's the technique that we learn and we don't use good material and that's a problem, because if we use the fine materials then the workmanship is going to look better. This is from China, this is a Chinese ribbon, it's very very old, and the colors are just magnificent here. She's adding some beads in. [Zinn] Are these antique beads too? Are these yours, Marilyn? [Marilyn] Yes, they're about 100 years old. And then one of our most exciting classes that we had was a Japanese painting class by Doris Tokushige, which is painting

with Japanese dyes on fabric that doesn't stiffen the fabric. And it's a very subtle, or as we would say in Japanese, "shibui", a very delicate technique on fabric. [Tokushige] And then we make that paste resist and then we draw it onto the -- that's what they're all doing now, she's doing it right now. And then you put the colors in. Inside the paste resist, and the paste resist is all on the inside, made of flour and alum. [Zinn] And then how do they get their colors? [Tokushige] The colors are the primary colors, the yellow, the blue, and the red. And all these colors, and it's very fun decking colors out. Some people don't like it, but it really works. [Zinn] There are many women who are going back into the field, workforce, either for the first time or returning to the workforce, and so are looking for something that they can do in their home and fiber art is a

real natural. Many of these women get started by going to craft fairs and doing the clothing, either children's clothing or baby quilts or quilts to wear, machine embroidered clothing. These are all very popular items and by taking workshops they learn the standards of quality that they need to be working for. And so in this way we do find that many of them get interested in a cottage industry through the fiber art field. We see that the fiber arts conference is really not only a learning experience for people who are new to the field, but also gives them some confidence and motivation. And this I think is really important because by sharing experiences from others who have already started in this field, then they can learn too and we find that people who are working in the field are always very willing to share. I think that's a really neat thing about fiber artists, they're always so willing to share. [Announcer] Coming up is a University of Hawaii farewell party for departing dance

director Carl Wolz. Is it popular art or commercial art? These are questions that arise from the prodigious efforts of airbrush T-shirt artist Arthur Johnsen, hotel arts seriographer Cal Nary, and notecards silk screener Janet Holaday. [Johnsen] The environment of Lanikai is so so sunny and kind of dry and I have in mind some large landscapes of Lanikai. Possibly a local Pareo design that would show the mountains here, the ocean. The decision to become an artist and to stay an artist was made just as a process in my life of gradually discarding the things that didn't make me happy. I was trained as a graphic designer, I studied architecture and I was in all these competitive fields and not that art is competitive, but I always found myself doing things that other people wanted me to do and nobody

was happy, they were never happy with what I did, they always wanted to change it. And I was very very frustrated because I really do feel a strong creative urge and all the times when I do the things that really pleased me, I'm really happy in it. It seems to please other people. So gradually I just stopped doing the things that involved too many compromises and I started just continuing to express myself. To make a living I really have to do all sorts of things. I have been making little greeting cards for the last few years dealing with Native Hawaiian plants, and I do these outrageous T-shirts that are more for a kind of a punk audience or more for people like myself. And I do these huge silkscreen prints which can be either worn or put on the wall. I put the abstraction on T-shirts because I know I couldn't sell it otherwise. It's really hard to sell abstract art and yet I feel that it plays a part in our lives.

If you want to sell art in Hawaii it has to be flowers or landscapes or -- well not necessarily, but you also have to establish a reputation as an abstract painter like John Young or somebody. But other than-- if you're not a famous painter it's very difficult to sell abstraction. I do abstraction because I feel a real sense of rebellion against the-- everybody in Hawaii does realism and it's really hard to sell stuff unless it's realistic here. And I just-- I do realistic stuff and I'm a very good drawer and I'm capable of doing that, but I just want to shock people sometimes, I just want-- I want to shift their way of thinking about things. I think abstraction is one of the most important movements of the 20th century and I think it's crazy to turn your back on it in the 1980s. [Janet Holaday] Many years ago

I spent some time working for the Bank of America. The choice to be self employed, it came really easy for me because it seems riskier to me to be an employee in that kind of a situation than to be on my own, because it was my mental well-being that was at stake. So I just have found that I don't do well in the normal kind of work situations and it's hard to set up my own schedule. I'm often behind schedule, in fact. Somebody said that craftspeople work with deadlines, not with schedules and that's the way it is here. We burn the midnight oil quite a bit. In terms of-- I think of the norm, we're living at the poverty level but we feel like we have a good life. We have what we need. I started doing note cards for a couple of

reasons. One being that they seemed like well I had an idea that I wanted to make a product that would be inexpensive and small and yet really quality and a quality piece of original art. And a notecard seemed to fit that. The other reason was that I was really insecure in my sense of what I wanted to do, and a notecard -- it was so small and somewhat conspicuous, I felt that I could-- It was a challenge I could handle. As time's gone by I've grown to work larger and larger. Every year I do a calendar, a large calendar, poster type, and I do large limited edition cards are all production kind of screening which means that I make permanent screens and I can use them over and over again without

a limiting edition. When I do a limited edition I start with a certain number of pieces of paper and I destroy the stencils when I complete it. [Cal Nary] I'd describe my work, I'm a jack of all trades I've had to be because one really can't make a living in art in Hawaii without being versatile with his artwork, his or her artwork. And I love working for the hotels. They're my major source of income. I like them because a lot of the hotels have interesting ideas for pieces that they have hanging in their ball rooms, in the guest rooms, and things like that, so I really like working with the hotels. I'm glad I got into it when I was a young man. So you know, 20 years old that's young. So that's basically what I

do. Lately I've been painting murals for different establishments and I really like painting murals too. I hope in the future I'll do more mural work because that's really exciting when you can do something that big and then you get out in the public and they look at it and they wonder who's, you know, created this thing. And that's really a challenge, I really like doing murals. I hope to do a lot more. I'm working on a comp for a client and what the client usually does is asks me for something that's as close to the finished silkscreen as possible so I, without spending a lot of money, I just do a comp that's as close to the finished product as possible using the colors that are required and a lot of other things and you know it's good for them to see what they are getting and that way you have no questions. I started working with the hotels when I was still in

college and it was a surprise for me because I came home one semester from art school to rest and I left a painting in a gallery and then I started doing some other pieces of orchids and a man named Lowell Barnhart who's a terrific designer here in town saw my work and asked me to do some paintings for Hilton and it was kind of a rush job because Elvis Presley was coming in to do his world concert here and there weren't any paintings in the presidential suites at the-- in the rainbow towers, so I had two weeks to put out 16 paintings of orchids and other things and it was really a challenge for me. And I did the job and I've been doing artwork for Hilton ever since. [Arthur Johnsen] I'm actually pretty ambitious. I definitely don't want to just be doing T-shirts. If anything I'd like to have to be a designer and be able to mass produce the T-shirts but the

real creative effort for me is always going to be painting and printmaking, murals, just I'd really like to continue to reach a lot of people but on a much larger scale and using more permanent material. Just really adding to the body of the art world in a fun way and just enjoy my life and bring pleasure to people and try to save the world, we have that responsibility too. It's not really easy at all being an artist. The lifestyle is wonderful. But I haven't been able to travel, I've really had some of my options reduced and I just-- I hope that that's something that'll pass in time. And it's been a risk. In a sense, it's kind of a gamble, I'm gambling with my life. I don't have any other skills right now other than the graphic design part of it. And I just am hoping that if I continue, I know that if I continue to do my art work that I'll come out on top.

[Janet Holaday] For a long time I was very, you know, involved with the note cards, they were what I did, you know, they represented me. But at this point the reason I do note cards is because they help pay the rent. They are the bread and butter, you know, and they give me the opportunity to explore other things that I'm interested in. So I guess I'll keep doing notecards until the other things can support me. And then I might-- I don't know exactly what I'd do with the note cards. It's hard to imagine not doing them. But it might be nice. I've always felt so fortunate to have this craft, because of my education. I had two years of college and it was all, it was liberal arts and art classes and I was really went out into the world prepared for nothing. I've been married for-- a housewife for nine years and hadn't gained any skills. And so the fact that I was able to take this one small skill that I had learned and develop it into a way to make a living is-- I really feel fortunate in that, and I haven't

considered giving it up because it's something that's continued in a really slow way to grow and develop. [Cal Nary] Well my biggest risk is when I'm working on a commission and I don't know if my client's going to accept it or not. That's a big risk. It also provides me a tremendous incentive to do the best possible piece I can. You know, I think that's why a lot of my pieces are good even if they're in thrift shops. I have to mention that too, that's important because I had a hotel that sold some of my pieces to a thrift shop and people have been coming to me and saying "hey we see your stuff in thrift shops" and I'm supposed to feel bad about that. I feel great about it, you know why? Because it starts down there. At least somebody picked it up and they're going to take it home, put it in their living rooms, and it's not going to go back to the thrift shop. It's not. It'll just keep going on and on and on and on. That's how art becomes cherished and valuable. You know, I'm not talking about $10,000 piece of art work in a gallery, I'm talking about a cherished piece that you hold on

to forever. That's what-- I want people love my work. This comes along with the difference between commercialism and fine art. This is where I believe there's a similarity because everybody looks for some-- you know, all artists look for some place to sell their work because they really do want to make a living on it. They want to be secure, they want to have financial security. You have to in this-- today. So what they do is they, you know, we all go out and look for someplace to sell our work. [Announcer] University of Hawaii's Dance Director Carl Wolz is honored by friends, colleagues, and students, as we attend his tribute party and see examples of his highly respected choreography. [blowing of conch shell and chanting] [Phyllis Haskell] It's a very emotional time for us, so it's a party for celebration for him going to Hong Kong and a

party of goodbye for him leaving, sponsored by Hawaii State Dance Council and the Friends of Dance at Manoa. And we wanted to have a chance for all his friends to get together and say good bye to him. And at the party we're having a resolution and some commendations given to him that are from the Senate and the House of Representatives and from the City Council. [Earl Ernst] When Carl first came here, he was a graduate student in drama and theater, and what was happening in dance at the University of Hawaii was relatively nothing. So in these 20 some years, we've got this-- yes we do indeed have this great thing going. And the person who's responsible is Carl. He not only trained people to dance, but more importantly that he trained people to see the infinite number of forms that the human body is capable of.

And consequently, audiences for dance in Hawaii are enormously expanded over what they were 20 years ago, and not a little of that depends on Carl. [Carl Wolz] It's impossible to mention all of the people who meant so much to me all these years. I leave with really very mixed feelings, leaving most of my heart here in Hawaii. The 20 years have been very full, I know I've learned a lot, and I really don't understand what all the fuss is about, because I just spent 20 years doing what I like to do. And feeling lucky to get paid for what I like to do. [Keiko Oda] Carl has initiated many things as a volunteer to make the community more aware of dance. He was a founder of the Hawaii State Dance Council in November of 1966, which is a clearinghouse for all dance activities.

He was very much the prime force in bringing the dance component to the artists and schools which covers elementary school, secondary schools, the neighbor islands as well. He has made an impact that will I think continue even after he goes to Hong Kong to make Hawaii the crossroads to dance, western dance, to the Pacific dance, to eastern dance. [Judy Van Zile] One of the most important things for me about Carl has been his tremendous unifying influence on dance at the university. He has a tremendously broad background. He has experience in not only dance as a performing tradition, but also the academic side as well, and he is interested and involved with ballet, with modern dance, with many different ethnic dance forms, and he's a performer, a choreographer, a teacher, a research scholar.

He just has a tremendous diversity that very few people in the dance area have. Many people in the community don't realize that there is no dance department at the university, and when I introduce him to friends and colleagues, I often introduce him as the unofficial chairman of the unofficial dance department. Because he's been able to talk with everybody and work with everybody in terms of keeping the program functioning as a single dance activity and we only hope that as long as he's planted all these incredible seeds and gotten so much going that we can continue to keep this going when he leaves us for Hong Kong. [Vivien Lee] His knowledge of all of the subjects of dance is incredible and he only shows you what there is to know and really can't tell you everything of what he knows. You sort of have to be inspired to go on and find out more on your own. [Wolz] My choreographic ideas come from many different sources.

I'm very much interested in contemporary music, so a lot of works that I've done have been based in that. But perhaps the most important source of choreographic idea comes from my studies in Japan, and so I've done at least 10 works over the years based on various kinds of music, dance, and conceptual sources of ideas in Japanese theatre and dance. It's difficult to say which has been my favorite composition or production over the last 20 years. But two of them really come to mind. One was a full length production of Swan Lake that we did with Bruce Marks and Tony Lander, it was staged by Yasuki Sasa. And the second, a full length work called Metaphysical Circus which is on different aspects of psychic phenomenon, with original music composed by Armand Russell of the department of music. [Music]

The importance of this new program in Hong Kong is really what lured me away from here because it's going to have an impact all over Asia in terms of the performing arts, education, and development. [Phyllis Haskell] The direction the Dance Department's going to take for now will be basically going on in the direction that Carl's already started us. He's had dreams for the department since its inception 20 years ago. Actually since we are not a department, that's one of the dreams is to become a department. [Chanting] [Ho'oulu Cambra] The chant is to remind Carl of the beauties of these islands, Ni'ihau, Ka'ula, Hawaii, and of the creative ingenuity that he has within him, that is like Pele the creator goddess of fire and volcanoes. And we send him abroad with that spirit of creativity that was always a part of him and we hope it

continues to expand with a wonderful beginning here in Hawaii. [applause] [Announcer] The efforts of our creators have a unifying influence on us. Our society gathers together to witness a dance to share the pleasure of art in public places, or to wear the art of fabric and fiber, thereby adding to our wardrobe and our tastes. The talent of our creators becomes our common possession. Join us on our next Spectrum. [Outro music] [Male Announcer] Spectrum was funded in part by the Hawaii State Foundation

on Culture and the Arts. [long pause] The following program is a production of KHET in Honolulu, Hawaii

Public Television. The following program was funded in part by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Today Spectrum welcomes you into several notable homes here in Hawaii where you'll experience a display of unique lifestyles both past and present.

For the artistic viewpoint, Spectrum travels over to Oahu's windward side up from the shore where the gateway leads to the mountains. The splendid residence of artists Hart and Tagami offers an ingenious example of how art may combine with nature. With a studied attention to detail, the artist plans his environment to complement his lifestyle. But first, Spectrum delves back one hundred fifty years to the oldest example of Western architecture in Hawaii. The mission houses represent Hawaii's first sustained exposure to early American culture. Explaining their part in Hawaii's heritage is Deborah Pope, Education Coordinator for the Mission Houses. [Choir singing] [Pope] Built by the first Christian missionaries between years 1821 and 1841, the mission houses in Honolulu are today the oldest

remaining houses in Hawaii. Here, the first missionaries to Hawaii lived and worked, raising families, teaching school, printing books in the Hawaiian language, and preaching Christianity. The roots of the Sandwich Islands Mission lay in the small towns and farms of New England in the early years of the 1800s. In villages like this one, many church goers flocked to hear a young Hawaiian man named Opukaha'ia speak of his people's need for a new religion. Like other young Hawaiians, Opukaha'ia had left his native island and worked his way to America on a sailing ship. In New England, he sought an education and converted to Christianity. Opukaha'ia resolved to return to Hawaii and bring the gospel, but he died of typhus before he could realize his goal. His memoirs carried on his message and inspired the first Christian mission to the Sandwich Islands, as

Hawaii was then called. The pioneer group of missionaries arrived at the small village of Honolulu in April of 1820. Among these young men and women were two ministers, several teachers, a doctor, a farmer, a printer, and three young Christian Hawaiians returning from New England. First on the mission's agenda was to learn the Hawaiian tongue. For two years they studied and worked to make Hawaiian a written language. In 1822 they used their press to print the Hawaiian alphabet and an eight page primer and took the first step in setting up schools and teaching Hawaiians how to read and write in their own language. This printing office, which today houses a replica of the first mission's printing press was one of the busiest places in Honolulu in the first half of the 19th century. Today we have a replica of the Ramage press that the first group of missionaries brought with

them when they arrived in Hawaii in 1820 and we still use it with visitors today to talk about the work of the mission in introducing a written language and printed material for the Hawaiian language. This was a very busy place with the work of the missionaries themselves and also the many young Hawaiian men which they trained both here at this mission station and also at Lahainaluna Seminary on the island of Maui. Young Hawaiian men would have worked the mission press and also set type for long hours of the day. They were mostly paid for their work instead of the usual apprentice system which would have worked in New England in those days. They were a good deal faster than I am, being well trained. They could print about three impressions in a minute, or 180 to 200 impressions in an hour. What we've printed here is the first two pages of the first primer or piapa, the

first thing ever printed in the Hawaiian language by the missionaries here. In addition to their work educating the Hawaiians, the missionaries built their own houses, such as this modest frame house, now the oldest remaining structure in the islands. Its design is typical of the early 19th century farmhouses found back home in New England. The builders had anticipated difficulty in obtaining proper materials and brought with them a precut frame, door, glass for windows, and hardware. The missionaries began building their frame house by digging the cellar. Their Hawaiian neighbors, unfamiliar with cellars, quickly circulated rumors that the missionaries were digging a pit to store guns and ammunition. But a personal visit to the Mission House from King Liholiho revealed its true purpose.

As the largest room in the house, the cellar served as a dining room for the four families and their guests. In the simple kitchen upstairs, the missionary women prepared meals with local foods such as taro, arrowroot, sweet potato, banana, pork, and fish. American imports such as flour, rice, and salted beef were also an important part of their diet. In the Ohana, or Hawaiian family, cooking was men's work. Women cooking were a curious sight to the Hawaiians, as were the coral chimney and the brick beehive oven. Kitty Hall, who grew up in this house, recorded her memory of this kitchen. The meals were cooked in iron pots hung from large hooks in the fireplace.

And a weekly baking of bread, pies, beans and Indian pudding was baked in the oven. In the backyard was a pump well and we each had to take his turn every day in filling the tubs for household use. Well water was brackish and had to be filtered through coral drip stones in order to be fit for washing and cooking. Drinking water was carried daily from the stream at Punahou. The parlor was the center of mission hospitality for visiting sea captains, other foreigners, Hawaiian chiefs, and church members. On many a morning, the Judd family awakened to discover dozens of Hawaiians waiting outside the parlor door. Once inside, they would sit upon the Lauhala mats and await an opportunity to

discuss the new religion. Dr. Judd and Reverend Bingham gathered their families in the parlor morning and evening for prayer, scripture reading, and hymn singing. Sophia Bingham, one of the many children who grew up in this house, was the oldest daughter of Hiram and Sybil Bingham. Like many missionary children, she was educated at home until the age of eight, when she was sent to New England to attend school. Raising and educating a Christian child in a non-Christian land was a matter of great concern to missionary parents. Until they founded Punahou School in 1841 for their children. The bedrooms occupied the second floor of the frame house. At the top of the stairs, lies the Judd family bedroom. Five children shared the small room with their parents. The bed curtains, which once provided warmth in New England, offered a small measure of privacy in Hawaii.

As one of few doctors in Hawaii, Dr. Judd cared for missionaries, Hawaiians, and foreigners alike. He introduced vaccines, encouraged isolation of the sick, trained Hawaiian medical assistants, and wrote a book on anatomy in the Hawaiian language. Like most missionaries, the Judds kept faithful records of their lives and events in Honolulu. Diaries and letters were often written on small portable desks such as this one. In August of 1828, Laura Judd wrote about this room. "We have had a very hot summer, no rain, the earth parched, and clouds of dust blowing day after day. I have emptied quarts of it from my bed cover at night and it pours in so thickly that in a few minutes it's impossible to distinguish the color of the different articles of furniture." The Bingham family resided in the bedroom down the hall.

Among their simple furnishings were pieces brought from New England and others made in Hawaii by Hiram Bingham. In addition to his skills as carpenter, Hiram Bingham served as a teacher, an occasional printer, and as the architect for Kawaiaha'o Church. But it was as ordained minister that he had the greatest influence. Together with other missionary ministers and teachers, Bingham won the trust of the Hawaiian chiefs. With the chiefs' encouragement, the commoners were free to attend missionary schools and to attend Christian church. Bingham, like most missionaries, was fluent in the Hawaiian language. He translated nine books of the Bible, hymn books, and numerous school textbooks. By learning the native tongue and putting it into print, Bingham and other missionaries contributed significantly towards the preservation of the Hawaiian language. The Cook family moved into the frame house in

1851. And here they raised their seven children. Amos and Juliette Cook had arrived in Hawaii in the late 1830s to teach. They joined their fellow missionary and women in teaching Hawaiian children and adults reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography, as well as art, music, and the manual skills. This view of Hilo Bay was painted by Hawaiian Joseph Nawahi, who studied at missionary schools and later taught at the Hilo boarding school. Nawahi and other promising Hawaiian students trained at the Lahainaluna Seminary on Maui as ministers, teachers, printers, and lawyers. They formed the nucleus of a new generation of Hawaiians equipped with the skills to face a rapidly changing culture. Like many missionary families, the Cooks and their children chose to settle in Hawaii and make it their

home. In 1851 Amos Cook found a new livelihood by opening a small general store in partnership with his friend Samuel Castle. These were the beginnings of Castle and Cook Incorporated. The Sandwich Islands Mission formally ended in 1863 when financial support from the United States was withdrawn. By mid-century, church membership among Hawaiians was high and the literacy rate was estimated at 75 percent of the adult population, a high percentage for a country which 30 years earlier had had no written language. Many missionaries remained in Hawaii, continuing their work as teachers, ministers, doctors, and printers. The mission houses remained, a strong reminder of the small religious community which had such a

profound influence on the history of Hawaii. [Announcer] Emerging from a past life style, Spectrum advances deep into the present. Into a serene sanctuary nestled between the ocean and the green lofty mountains. An artistic style of life is reflected in this original residence of ceramicist Richard Hart and painter Hiroshi Tagami. [flute music] [Hart] My main influence has been Japanese potters in my work. When we went to Japan the first time four years ago, I saw tea bowls and I'd really seen them

for the first time, and the prices on the tea bowls, contemporary tea bowls, were in the thousands of dollars and it sparked my interest to find out what was so esoteric about a simple bowl that they could command such prices for these thing. Not that I ever expected to duplicate the sale of tea bowls like that, but it was just an interest in the whole process of tea and being interested in the zen aspect of tea. So I came home and began to study tea ceremonies and the tea bowl a little more. Neither Hiroshi nor myself have an academic

background in our artwork. Where I went to college at Vanderbilt, they only offered electives in art. And I took what they had in the electives, but mostly that was art appreciation. And a few years ago I wanted to try something in pottery and went to the local VO. And I had three courses under Sally Fletcher. That's my art-- that's my background so far as pottery goes. Want to put this in the gallery, you want to come in and rearrange them?

Why don't you put the new painting over there. And we'll move this one around. [Hiroshi Tagami] Well what better way to make a living by working at home. First of all, I'm not having to drive and buck the traffic which I hate to do. And I think that's basically the reason for having the gallery here, for instance, and working at home in the atmosphere that we have created. This way we have the

public coming to us on the respected days which is set aside for that. And it seems to be ideal to me. My interest in painting started quite late in life, I guess I was about 36 when I started, but I've always been interested in drawing as a child. My first art form, I believe, was photography, that started in high school. Sophomore. And I saw it as I grew older I decided to change. And at age of 36 I began to paint professionally. [Hart] My greatest influence in my pottery has been the Japanese mingei potters. Primitive pottery from different parts of the world. I think when I first started, at that point about 15 years ago

to get something in a show, it had to be non-utilitarian. They wouldn't take mostly utilitarian pieces. That's changed, which I think is good, because of the craft movement. But before I think I had -- I was kind of influenced by the university. Where everything had to be sculptural or it didn't fit me. And at this point I'm doing mostly utilitarian things because that's what I enjoy, basically. [violin music] [Tagami] Well my painting takes up probably just about eight hours a

week and I don't have any special time that I paint. It's normally done when I feel like it and when I have freedom of not having to think about other chores that has to be done, and my mind is free, and I go out and do my work. That's when I paint. [flute music] [flute music] [Hart] OK, these-- you got the cockatoos?

This one's got red feathers coming out, it's going to be a hen. [Tagami] I didn't notice that yesterday. Three hens and a male. I made a mistake. Mochi's beginning to flap his wings I think in a couple weeks he'll be flying. [Hart] This one's going to fly first. [Tagami] Yeah I think so. [Tagami] Several years ago when we took a trip to South America, we went to Rio. And there met a wonderful man by the name of Burlee Max, Roberto, and he's a landscape architect. But most of all he has one of the finest collections of tropical plants privately owned by anyone. We came across this plant with just green leaves. But underneath it, growing under the canopy of the leaves was a beautiful ice blue porcelain-like flower that hit me between the eyes. And I said "What a wonderful plant to bring back to Hawaii. If I

could feel that. I would like for the people of Hawaii to also to enjoy it. And to see it", because it was such an unusual plant. [Hart] We have an interest in plants and nature which you'll see around here which it's a pleasant atmosphere, the mountains on three sides, the sea on the other. Certainly a creative atmosphere to be in.

We have a lot of school kids here as well as senior citizens and all kinds of groups that come through. But on two occasions I can remember small children. Preschoolers. And this was on two separate occasions that the kid would lock himself in a gate out here and refused to go home with his parents.

And we had to give him a rock from out of the yard and then he would go home. And promise him that they could come back. [flute music] [Announcer] Where art allies itself with nature, a profound friendship

develops. The creator may draw his inspiration from creation itself. He will notice that here he can witness the multitude of growing life in its many forms and patterns. And it's here that he receives his invitation to be a guest at the feast of reason and the flow of soul. Join us on our next Spectrum. Spectrum was funded in part by the Hawaii State Foundation

on Culture and the Arts.